A little support goes a long way in Pakistan revival

Pakistan pulled a Pakistan. In other words, it did the exact opposite of what everyone expected it to do.

Flattened against India with an disappointing performance with bat and on the field in its Champions Trophy 2017 opener, most thought that all South Africa, the No. 1 ranked ODI team, had to do was turn up and pocket two points against Pakistan, who are No. 8, when the two sides met at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday.

What transpired was a charged up Pakistan first keeping South Africa to 219 for 8 thanks to excellent bowling and equally good fielding, and then progressing to 119 for 3 in 27 overs before rain brought a halt to the proceedings. Pakistan looked ahead at that stage, and DLS Method confirmed it, with the team 19 ahead of the par score and thus declared winners.

So what did Pakistan do off the field that resulted in the complete makeover? Sarfraz Ahmed was disarmingly frank when he answered, “We actually did no fielding at all. We had rain yesterday, so we did nothing!”

What the Pakistan captain meant was his side couldn’t have fielding and bowling practice due to the rain on match eve which consigned it to the indoor nets. What did happen in the aftermath of the 124-run DLS defeat to India though, was some home truths being delivered by Mickey Arthur, the coach, in elder brotherly style that galvanised the team.

“We had a very good meeting yesterday, talking all day about batting and fielding and bowling,” said Sarfraz, candidly admitting that the pressure got to some of the younger players ahead of the India encounter, which affected the team as a whole.

“After the India match we had a meeting with the coach. He told us what mistakes we made. I think against India, our younger players felt the pressure. That affected us as a team and hurt us. We had mis-fields that cost us also, and the last four overs were very poor.

“The coach too could see it from outside, that we came under pressure and could neither bat, bowl nor field properly. So he told us that if we continue to perform like this, we will never challenge the top teams in this sort of a tournament. There was no shouting. Our coaching staff is very good, and backed us after the defeat, supported us. Credit should go to the management also, because after the defeat, they supported the team very well. That is why you saw this performance today. ”

While diplomatically saying that the team deserved the criticism it got after its defeat, Sarfraz pointed with pride at the performance against South Africa to reiterate that with the right backing and support structure, Pakistan could enjoy fruitful days ahead.

“It is their job to criticise, there is no need to give back an answer,” he held. “It is right too, we performed poorly so we have to suffer it. But I’ll just say, that this is our team and these are the best boys we have. If everyone gets together and supports us, then definitely the team will go forward. All our youngsters performed well today, the way Fakhar (Zaman) batted, the way Hasan (Ali) bowled, Imad (Wasim) and Shadab (Khan) the way they bowled – if this team gets some backing then the way we are gaining experience, we’ll do well in the future also.”

Sarfraz generously accepted that he had made mistakes too, especially in the defeat against India, but said his effort was always to ensure he didn’t repeat them “Obviously, I made mistakes and I accept them,” he smiled. “We couldn’t execute our plans properly, but I’m also learning and will continue to learn more every day. I will try to not repeat the mistakes I made in past matches.”

Against South Africa, the lack of mistakes was very visible, as were the tactical smarts. Even though Pakistan went into the match without focussing on the rain, when the clouds did gather, it responded appropriately, with the trio of Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik stepping on the accelerator as needed.

“We had not thought about the rain at all. Here, when there’s no forecast for rain, it rains,” he said. “I’ll give credit to our bowlers first. They bowled very well, as per our plans. And our fielding too was superb, you would have seen how much the boys put into it. Our batting went well too. When we needed to up the run-rate due to DLS, Hafeez bhai charged the bowlers. And the way Shoaib bhai batted too. Overall we did well as a team, and our effort was 100 per cent.”

Pakistan has now revived its chances of making the semi-finals. Though it could still go through if it loses its last league match to Sri Lanka, it will obviously be a lot safer with a win, and a big win at that to improve its net run-rate, which is still at -1.544.

“We will go there, see the pitch and decide which combination suits us,” said Sarfraz. “All our combinations clicked today, so let’s see what the situation is there. Our first focus is to win the match, then we’ll worry about the run-rate. But of course we want to win the match and also improve our run-rate as well.”